Muskegon County’s First Baby of 2008

January 2, 2008: Soon after most of us rang in the New Year, Rachel Menzock of Twin Lake went into labor.  Rachel and her husband, Robert Menzock, welcomed their third child at 7:03 a.m. on January 1, 2008 at Mercy General Health Partners’ Special Delivery Birth Center.

Rachel gave birth to Zayne Robert, a healthy 6 pound 10 oz. boy, who is the first baby of the year for Muskegon County. Zayne was delivered by Dr. Mark Karnes.

“We didn’t expect to have the first baby of the year. I wasn’t due for another two weeks,” said Rachel from her room at Mercy General Health Partners Special Delivery Birth Center.

“This is a very special baby for us since we suffered a loss (miscarriage) just before Christmas in 2006,” says Rachel.

Baby Zayne joins big sister Serenity, 10, and brother, Justice, 4.

The Menzock’s received a special New Year’s Day baby package from the Special Delivery Birthing Center nursing staff. 

Rachel has been a registered nurse for five years with the Special Delivery Birth Center.

When asked about deliveries in 2007, Elaine Skinner, Director of Women’s and Children’s Services for Mercy General Health Partners responded “Babies, babies, and more babies! This has been a tremendously busy year for us. In 2007, we had 1502 deliveries, 105 more deliveries than in 2006.”

Mercy General is the specialty referral hospital along the lakeshore. Mercy General’s services include heart and vascular, emergency services, cancer care, orthopedic and spine surgery, urology, bariatric services, a primary care network, nephrology, ENT, laboratory, palliative care and rehabilitation.  Mercy General specializes in a variety of areas through specialized institutes and centers where physicians and staff work collaboratively to provide excellent care to patients.  Some of these centers include the Heart and Vascular Institute, the Centers for Women’s Health, the Center for Weight Management, the Imaging Center of Excellence and a state-of-the-art Emergency Center.